“Hai Apna Dil tho
Awara” (movie Solva Saal), these words were slightly inquisitive to me and I
vividly remember listening to this in the tape recorder. My maternal aunt, who
used to hymn this song, played it over again and again. I didn’t know who the
actor was and what this was all about. I was three or even four when this
happened. Few years later, I got to know it was the song of Dev Anand and my
aunt was not the only one who was a big fan of his.
Interestingly enough, as an eight year old kid, the movie I
enjoyed about his was ‘Awwal Number’ not because of the story but because of
the cricket in it. I lived my school years watching his movies sporadically as
and when it appeared on television, until one fine day....
That particular moment happened sometime in 2000, as I was
looking for some old classics, I found this CD. Mohd Rafi and Dev Anand and
thus started a special journey. ‘Tere Mere Sapne Ab Ek Rang Hai.....’
I had three weeks before my final exam and I was hooked to
this song. The movie was Guide and it starred Waheeda Rehman alongside Dev
Saab. R.K Narayan had written the novel and Dev Saab had produced this movie
which was directed by his younger brother Vijay. Looking back, the curiosity of
Guide took me deep into my hobby of researching movies. Prior to this, I knew
facts of some movies but never went a step ahead in knowing why? I wanted to know
why such a song existed in the movie Guide. Why is the title of the movie
‘Guide’? Why not any other Hindi name?
With such heavy thoughts, I was studying hard on subjects
like mathematics and was in the library picking up books. I saw the novel
‘Guide’ lying on the table next to a rack. Instead of two books of mathematics,
I took one and other being ‘Guide.’
I so wished Guide to be part of my English chapters, it would
have helped me reading and look like a stud in front of my English teachers
(mostly they were females). But my thirst for knowing more about Guide overpowered
any such thoughts and I began reading. The story of Raju, the Guide his
encounter with Rosy, the dancer and her recluse husband Marcos and Raju’s
friend Gaffur, the driver; I could visualise why such a song would have been
written. I felt at the end of Guide, it wasn’t just about the Raju I wanted to
know, it was about the man and his movies that brought ‘Raju’ on the screen.
Like a good boy, I finished my exams and then started my quest on knowing more
on Dev Saab movies.
My mom was a kid and really young when Dev Saab was at his
peak and hence my information was limited, nevertheless she provided a lot of
facts concerning him. It so happened while spending post exam holidays with my
grandparents I got to know more about my grandpa’s fascination for movies and
wanted to know more about the movies he used to watch and in particular about Dev
Saab. Just to give an idea, my maternal grandfather is a great
conversationalist and let it be any topic, he would have his opinion and always
in a way the other person would want to hear. He made people laugh while conversing
yet provides the most important details; I really like that thing in him.
We started our conversation on movies and by that time my
quotient on Old Hindi movies was getting enriched with many internet
researchers and by reading backdated issues of Filmfare (I used to subscribe
them) and the introduction of Star Gold channel on television. I was fifteen and
few months older by this time as I went about watching his movies and
collecting all his favourite songs.
His movies echoed something new each time since his debut in
1946. After his debut in ‘Hum Ek Hain’ he had to wait a good two years before
he was toasted as the next big thing. The 1948 movie ‘Ziddi’ made him an
instant superstar and raving on the success, Dev Saab got into the movie
production business not surprisingly the production name was Navketan
International was formed in 1949-50. Navketan means ‘newness’.
He was successfully paired with established actress Suraiya
and even was left heartbroken when his proposal was rejected by Suraiya
grandmother because of religious issues. Dev Saab and Suraiya made seven movies
together and all were a success at the box-office. The last of the seven movies
was released in 1951.
I remember watching the movie ‘Taxi driver’ on a Sunday
morning long time ago. I was fascinated by the movie titles he came up with,
especially the English titles. I am not sure if this was due to his heavy
Hollywood influence or his background in English literature. Nevertheless, his
titles were unique to the movie generation of the 1950’s and next. House No.
44, C.I.D, Paying Guest, Love Marriage, Jewel Thief, Gambler etc. It was during
the filming of ‘Taxi driver’, he got interested in Mona Singh aka Kalpana
Karthik and married after the movie got released. The pair went steady till
date.
In my short movie research history, I can say no one has
been given such adulation in spite of how movies performed in the box-office.
Since 1971, he made 33 movies (latest being ‘Charge sheet’ which released in
Sep 2011) but none hit the top mark. But yet, he went on..... Reminds me of the
line ‘Mein Zindagi ka saath Nibata Chal Gaya’ from Hum Dono, the very same song
I remember my granny hymning while cooking my favourite dishes. She gives a
smile and has her own memory of Dev Anand. She remembers ‘Hum Dono’ a lot,
which happens to be one of the first double acting movies in the Indian movie
history.
Widely termed as the Gregory Peck of Bollywood, he had created
his own niche in the movie industry. Be it dialogue delivery, the head nods or
the style with which he went about making movies; it was creative in motion. He
introduced the gangster movies to Indian audience, the first stand out romantic
hero of Bollywood, an experimenter having many pot-boilers to his credit and
the songs. Oh yes, the songs that will remain forever with ages to come. No
wonder he chose the title ‘Romancing Life’ as the name for his autobiography.
He is no more and the great towering personality of
positivity has left the world. Dev Saab known as the ‘ever green’ star was
always full of life, a life filled with optimism. Again my mind goes back to
the movie Guide and I remember the line, ‘Aaj phir Jeene ki Tamanna Hai’ (I
would like to live again today) and it was how he lived his 88 years living
each day.
